Well today was a rather cold and miserable day. One which kept us inside the house for most of it. The children were busy doing their own thing and school work, while Nanny and I spent much of the day cooking and talking.

It was around mid afternoon when we glimpsed a beautiful Rainbow from outside through a window in the house. With this in mind we ventured out to see if we could find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and were pleasantly surprised to see, that we could actually see both ends of the rainbow! and if we looked hard enough a second (not so vivid) rainbow along side the first.

After our trip into the Da Vinci Exhibition on Wednesday the 11th march, we continued enjoying our day with Nanny and visited the Shot tower, which is a unique and historical building. It is said to be the only remaining sandstone and circular shot tower in the world today.

The distinctive circular tower stands 48 metres tall and was built in 1870 for the purpose of producing lead shot. Lead, with added arsenic and antimony was cast into ingots, remelted in cauldrons and then poured through colanders, forming droplets which became roughly spherical as they dropped into a tub of water at the base of the tower.

The top of the tower can be accessed via a 259 step circular staircase and offers spectacular views up, down and across the Derwent River. There is a museum at the base of the tower and a tea rooms alongside, as well as toilet facilities for the disabled.

The tower being so high can seem very daunting, and if you are scared of heights, like some of us are, then it can prove to be a character building exercise, when you actually place your demons aside and climb to the top of the tower. All three of us climbed to the top of the tower and were welcomed with some amazing views. We were also very proud of JAHG as she had initially not wanted to start the journey upwards, but after some contemplation, managed to put her fears aside and climb climb, climb! A massive challenge for her and one she overcome! Well done and Congratulations!